Chapter 78
CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
I watch the consciousness drain out of Sofi’s bright eyes, leaving only her Omega there to guide her.
She whines, fear and need souring her perfect scent. I replay the last request she made, my chest burning with a fierce purr.
Bite me.
She wants my bond—but I know I’m not the only one she needs.
Cylus shuffles toward me, sensing the possessive edge to my purr. His expression twists as he hands me our mate. Not wanting to let her go.
I don’t make him. Instead, I hold her between our chests, nodding Rask over. He swallows thickly, taking the place behind her head. His silver eyes soften when she whimpers up at him.
“Hi, little one,” he whispers, petting her hair. “My warrior. I still see you in there.”
As a special sort of glimmer steels her gaze, I realize I see her, too. Not the manic Omega begging for bonds and knots—but my queen.
Regally stubborn. Bravely kind. Brilliant and giving.
Cylus agrees, bobbing his head once. “It’s… She’s still Sofi. My…” His horns darken, but he clears his throat. “My first friend. My heart.”
I glance at the males wedged into the nest with me, amazed. She means something different to all of us—and yet, the same thing, too.
Everything.
How can one person be so much? So layered with goodness, woven with the most compelling imperfections? Her tears, her temper. Foolhardy and funny when she shouldn’t be.
No one else would ever do. There isn’t another soul in the universe I’d want bound to mine. But if we all do this…
I may be bound to these males as well.
Cylus has the same thought. His intelligent gaze gleams. “This may not work. I couldn’t find any research,” he admits, solemn but resolved. “Anything we do… We’ll be the first pack to do it in a very long time. And the very first ever to bond with a human.”
It’s odd how that notion has never disturbed me.
Even the day she arrived, when she spent the night reeking of fear and denying she’d ever want anything to do with me…
I didn’t worry about our physical differences at all.
Partly because I found every tiny thing about her bewitching.
Her strangeness only ever made her more precious to me.
But the fact remains—she is not Roktusian. Can we bite her the way we would a mate from our own planet? Will her scars heal like they’re supposed to? Will she feel the pleasure we’ll feel, or will our fangs hurt her?
Rask’s silver brows knit as he stares down at Sofi’s pained face. “Could—”
He cuts himself off, but I put my hand on his shoulder, encouraging him. “Tell us.”
Rask looks down at his branded body. Perhaps praying to his goddess. Or remembering all the things he’s always believed in.
“Could she know what to do?”
Fucking hells.
Yes.
It’s so obvious. Our omega has known what we needed to bring us together from the moment she arrived. Even when she was oblivious to the effect she had.
It’s innate. Part of her. She draws us together and makes us complete.
Rask has always had faith. And Cylus has science.
But I’ve never believed in anything the way I believe in my mate.
My scent swells and Sofi’s rises to meet it, blending and blurring through the tiny cave. The other alphas stifle groans. Our omega shivers in my arms. My voice drops lower.
“What do you need, stryllas? Show us.”
Her glazed eyes flutter to mine, the black pools at their centers yawning to eclipse the opalescent rings around them. I stare, long and deep, projecting my complete and total sincerity. Letting my dominance crackle through the cave.
A soft whine vibrates in her throat, but she stops squirming and gives a slow blink. Absorbing the wordless pull anchored at my center that aches for her.
Her fisted fingers slowly relax. Reaching as she gives a quiet ruff.
“Him.”